Nairobi, Kisumu in basketball quarters as Kicosca Games hot up

Men’s basketball defending champions Nairobi romped into the quarter-finals as the 9th edition of the Kenya Inter County Sports and Cultural Association (Kicosca) games entered Day 3 in Kisumu city.

Nairobi will lock horns in the last eight with Kiambu at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Sports ground while hosts Kisumu will battle it out with Uasin Gishu.

The third quarter-final will see Vihiga battle it out with Nakuru as Bungoma take on Kericho.

Vihiga were the last team to book a place in the last eight after narrowly beating Turkana 33-30 in a seesaw game. Kericho overcame a tough Embu County 23-21 to qualify for the quarters.

 In the women’s category, holders Nairobi and hosts Kisumu, captained by Dorothy Adhiambo, also qualified for the last eight. 

Kisumu, coached by veteran Collins Omondi aka Ondii, won both their games played on Wednesday. In the opening game, Kisumu thrashed Uasin Gishu 25-5 and Embu 55-9.

Despite the huge wins, Omondi was not satisfied with the performance of his team. “We are at 50 percent but I hope we will do well in the upcoming games,” said Omondi.

Nairobi booked a place in the last eight after beating Kisii 40-7 and running over neighbors Kiambu 45-6.

In football, Kajiado and Vihiga counties have progressed to the last 16 from Pool ‘D’. Kajiado thrashed Murang’a county 4-0 before holding former champions Kisii to a 2-2 draw.

In the game against Murang’a red hot striker Robert Saningo scored a hattrick for Kajiado while Anthony Ntitika wrapped up the scores.

At Jomo Kenyatta International Sports Stadium West Pokot upset fancies Homa Bay 1-0 while Nakuru beat Busia 2-1. Homa Bay recovered from the loss to beat Ebu 4-0 while West Pokot edged Laikipia 3-0.

In other games, Laikipia saw off Embu 4-0 as neighbours Bungoma and Busia played to a 1-1 draw. In the tug of war, Kisii, Kisumu, and  Kakamega all qualified for the quarter-finals in the men’s and women’s categories.

In netball, Kisii was awarded a 20-0 walkover after Devolution were disqualified for failing to produce documents while Vihiga defeated Meru 14-7.

Mombasa bagged the draughts title with 22 points followed by Kilifi with 18 points. Embu were third also with 18 points but with an inferior goal aggregate to Kilifi.

In chess, Nairobi retained the title. Nairobi tied with Kericho but the teams were separated by a tiebreaker. In the tie-breaker, Nairobi had 208 points, and Kericho 177.  Athletics will take centre stage from Thursday to Friday.